Morgan Stanley Lowers Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Price Target to $78.00

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) had its price target cut by Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $78.00 in a research report report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on GILD. Truist Financial downgraded Gilead Sciences from a buy rating to a hold rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $91.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $74.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Barclays reduced their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Needham & Company LLC restated a hold rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday. Finally, HSBC upgraded Gilead Sciences from a reduce rating to a hold rating and set a $69.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $83.60.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 0.8 %

GILD opened at $65.94 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $71.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $82.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 183.17, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.19. Gilead Sciences has a one year low of $64.63 and a one year high of $87.86.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.49) by $0.17. The company had revenue of $6.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.36 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 24.34% and a net margin of 1.76%. Gilead Sciences’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.37 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences will post 3.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.67%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 855.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.18, for a total value of $146,360.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 100,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,386,496.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 83,364,123 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,753,350,000 after purchasing an additional 1,642,736 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 59,657,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,832,824,000 after purchasing an additional 1,743,418 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,630,134 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,509,227,000 after purchasing an additional 2,350,550 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,909,619 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,267,207,000 after purchasing an additional 158,794 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 4th quarter worth about $1,301,624,000. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Gilead Sciences

Gilead Sciences, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes medicines in the areas of unmet medical need in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company provides Biktarvy, Genvoya, Descovy, Odefsey, Truvada, Complera/ Eviplera, Stribild, Sunlencs, and Atripla products for the treatment of HIV/AIDS; Veklury, an injection for intravenous use, for the treatment of COVID-19; and Epclusa, Harvoni, Vemlidy, and Viread for the treatment of viral hepatitis.